Wednesday, October 27, 2010

This weeks blog was on a poem. What a great way to end the blog assignments on a positive entry. Poetry is an imaginative awareness of experience expressed through meaning, sound, and rhythmic language choices so as to evoke an emotional response.

I wanted to blog poems by Shel Silverstein. There are so many wonderful poems by him. I posted a little background information on him in case no one has heard of him.

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Shel Silverstein
Born: Sept.25th, 1930
Died: May 10th, 1999

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Shel Silverstein was born September 25th, 1930 in Chicago Illinois. He began writing when he was twelve years old. He wanted to play ball and talk to girls, but he had no athletic ability and girls showed no interest. When he was in the military, he worked as a cartoonist for "Pacific Stars and Stripes." Silverstein wrote his first children's book in 1964, it was The Giving Tree. This was the first of many wonderful stories and poems written by Shel Silverstein.

I had to pick three, so I picked the three poems from the Runny Babbit collection.The poems in the Runny Babbit collection is written in "Spoonerisms." If you do not know the meaning, or like me, have never heard of the word, it means an error in Speech or deliberate play on words in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched. The word "Spoonerisms" is named for Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844-1930) who was prone to do this type of speaking.

The first poem is Runny on Rount Mushmore.

Runny vook a tacation

To see some brand new places

He climbed right up Rount Mushmore

To pree sesidents faces

There was Jashington and Wefferson

Rincoln and Loosevelt too

And after Runny came back down

There was a bunny too

-This poem is pretty self explanatory. But nevertheless it is a cute poem about a mischievous bunny who wanted to explore different places. To make his mark, he put his face next to the President's faces. We can probably picture Runny as Shel Silverstein who made his place in society by writing great children's books. I think at some point as individuals we all need to make our mark in society somehow. Whether it is helping someone or showing our creative side, we will all be known for something. I still don't think that I have made myself known yet in society. But then again, I do not pay attention to the wonderful things that I do that would be considered my mark.

The second poem is Runny and Sea PoupRunny went to Snerry Jake's To get some taisin roast But all Jake had was sea poup Which Runny hated most He cried, 'I wont eat sea poup I simply can not bear it.' Snerry said, 'Since you wont eat it Maybe you can wear it.'- This poem was another smile maker for me. Shel Silverstein showed in character how a child or adult can act when approached with a food we do not like. I think as children we all had a food that we refused to eat. It did not matter to any extent what our parents did to get us to try it, we still wouldn't budge. I remember as a child I would not eat any vegetables. It did not matter how hard my mother tried to hide them in food i refused to eat them. As an adult, every meal I eat has to come with a vegetable. I can't get enough of them. As we get older, I think we own up to our defenses and settle in and try new things.

The third poem is Runny's Hind Keart. On a mosty frornin' Runny woke And heeked outside his pole And he saw all the wugs and borms A-ceezin in the frold The flagondries, the hassgroppers And patercillars too, We're shiverin' and quiverin' As freezin creatures do So Runny took them all inside Where it was carm and wozy He rubbed each tiny tozen froe He warmed each ice-nold cosie He fed them nice hot sarrot coup And after they were fed He blapped them up in wrankets And but them all to ped
- I enjoyed reading this poem. Shel Silverstein showed us the fulfillment of being compassionate to everyone and everything. Knowing how the world is, and that there are not many people who are compassionate, it is nice to read about someone or something that is compassionate. I am being honest when I say that this poem brought me to tears. It was so compassionately written that I could not hold my emotions in. Being a Mother of a special needs child, I constantly worry how other children will treat my son. I think that if children are shown how to treat people and other living things, they can make a difference in making the world a better place.

Teaching Shel Silverstein poems has a great message and unknowingly teaches students phonemic awareness. This is a great poem collection book to keep in your Children's Book Library.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

This weeks blog is on a multicultural book. A multicultural book is literature that appears in different genres which present a multiple perspective about the lives, culture, and contributions of each cultural group to American society.

I found it very hard to find the "perfect" book to write about. While looking through the books at the local library, I came across a book that I knew would be the book I was going to write about. I was very intrigued by the cover of the book. The picture on the cover is of 4 children looking at a plate of food. The look on their faces is of puzzlement and fear. This picture led me to read this book right where I was standing. I knew after I read this story, that I found the "perfect" book.

Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto is about a young girl named Maria who is helping her Mother prepare the traditional dish tamales for Christmas dinner. Maria wanting to be just like her Mother, is wearing her Mother's apron, perfume, and lipstick and helping out in the kitchen just like a grown up. When Maria's Mother takes off her diamond ring, she can not resist the temptation of puttingon the ring and being just like her Mom. It isn't until after she helps kneading the masa that the ring is missing. Maria fears the ring is lost in the cooked tamales.
With the help of her cousins, they come up with a plan to eat all the tamales to find the missing ring. When all the tamales are eaten, they discover that the ring was not in the tamales, and cousin Danny thinks he may have eaten the ring by accident when he swallowed something hard. Upset, Maria goes to her Mother to confess what she has done, only to discover that her Mother is wearing the ring.

This story brought back many memories of myself when I was young and always trying to do what my Mother was doing when she was getting ready to go out, cleaning the house, or talking with her friends. I would manage to sneak in a few minutes of watching her before I made my move onto something that was hers, or making a statement into the conversation. When I would do one of these things, she would look at me and smile, and let me continue exploring into her world. Even now I stop myself when I am doing something just like my Mother (i.e. the way I do the laundry, or how I get myself ready when I am going out for the evening). I even find myself laughing the way she does when she laughs really hard.

Though the book is about the Hispanic traditions, it is not the main focus of the story. Gary Soto does a great job in reflecting on the love a young girl has for her Mother and the love the family has for each other. It is a wonderful story and the illustrations by Ed Martinez, celebrate the Hispanic culture by the use of color and, he emphasizes the expressions on the children's faces for every emotion they were feeling.

I added this book to my collection of Children's book. I would love to read this book to my classroom around the Holiday's when the focus will be on Celebrating Differences. I would recommend this book to everyone.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

In children's books there are many genres to read from. Two such genres are folktales and fairytales. A folktale is a story originating in oral tradition. Folktales fall into a variety of catergories such as legends, ghost stories, fairytales, and fables. Some examples of folktales are paul Bunyon, Johnny Appleseed. Mike Fink, and Pecos Bill.

A fairytale is a folktale defined as a story created or strongly influenced by oral traditions. Most fairytales include opening with Once upon a time, enchantment, royalty, a wicked character, a kind character, a good deed rewarded in the end, and ending with they lived happily ever after.

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Hans Christian Andersen

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I chose to blog about a fairytale written by Hans Christian Andersen. Hans Christian Andersen was born in the town of Odense Denmark on Tuesday April 2nd, 1805. It was during 1835 that he published the first installment of his fairytales. More stories completing the first volume were published in 1836 and 1837. The quality of these stories was not immediately recognized and they sold poorly.

The fairytales Andersen is most famous for are The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Pea, The Snow Queen, and Thumbelina, just to name a few.

The fairytale I chose is The Swineherd by Hans Christian Andersen. The story was written by Andersen in 1841. The story is about a poor Prince who wants to marry the Emperor's daughter. He asked for her hand in marriage by sending her two of the most valuable things to him. rosebush that had one rose on it. when one smelled it, it smelled so sweet they forgot their sorrows. The other was a nightingale which sang beautifully. when the Princess received the gifts, she wished they were toys that she could use. she disregarded the rose and let the bird free.
The Prince did not give up, and decided to dress as a swineherd and went to work in the pigsty at the Emperor's palace. One night, he made a magic kettle that sang a song every time the water boiled. The Princess wanted it, but the swineherd told her she had to give him ten kisses. Reluctantly she gave in. Another night, the swineherd made a magic rattle that played all the songs in the world. The Princess had to have it. The swineherd told her she could have it for one hundred kisses. as the maids circled around them to count the kisses, the emperor had showed up.
Enraged over what he saw, he banished the Princess and the swineherd from his kingdom. The Princess began to cry and wished she had accepted the proposal of the poor Prince. The swineherd went behind a tree and changed into his princely clothes. When she saw him, she could not help herself but to bow to the prince. The Prince disgusted on how he was treated by her, and how she would not accept a poor Prince, but act foolishly to get presents that she wanted from the swineherd. The prince left her sitting there and went back to his kingdom. There the Princess sat and cried singing the song from her toys.

I truly enjoyed reading this fairytale. It is not your typical fairytale. The Prince and Princess do not meet and fall in love, there is no wicked character, and the is no happily ever after. This fairytale is the exact opposite of the fairytale that we are used to reading. The tale has a moral lesson to the story. It is teaching us to not judge a person by what they are, to accept all things in life the way it is, and to not be selfish.

This can be a great fairytale to introduce into the classroom. It has a valuable lesson that students can relate to when introduced properly. Many of the Andersen fairytales have a moral lesson to them and they are a great read.